Ireland’s women’s team are in a second successive European final as they beat France and the Netherlands in the closing stages to reach the final of the European team championships in Amsterdam last evening. What an achievement for the team of Madeline Perry, Aisling Blake, Laura Mylotte & Ciara Moloney and their manager Anne Costello.
And what a semi final vs The Netherlands it was – Aisling Blake set the tone with an emphatic 3-0 win but our number 1 and most experienced player and world no. 11, Madeline Perry lost a tight match 3-1. So it was all down to Connacht’s Laura Mylotte, the experienced but part time player and boy did she draw on her experience. Winning the first 2 sets, Mylotte drops the 3rd, having been tied at 6-6, a loss of concentration cost the Galway girl the game 6-11. In the fourth set…. 6 all…7 all…8 all…9 all…9-10..9-11 Mylotte drops the 4th and the match comes down to the final set.
Nerves of steel, experienced Mylotte takes the 5th 11-9 and Ireland are in the FINAL! What an achievement for Ireland! The final takes place on Saturday at 10.00 Irish time.
Ireland’s men got to the semi final of the 2nd division and lost narrowly to the host nation, The Netherlands and play Wales for 11th place on Saturday afternoon.
Keep in touch with all the real time results on www.irishsquash.com or go onto the tournament site for live streaming http://www.squash.nl/page/24385/Web-streaming-Day-4
England W
[ENG] – 
[IRL] Ireland W
| Time: | Sat 04/05/2013 11:00 |
|---|---|
| Draw: | Women – Division 1 – 1-4 |
| Score: |
| Order | Event | England W[ENG] |
– | [IRL] Ireland W |
Score | Points | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | WS1 |
|
– |
|
11-7 11-5 11-2 | 1-0 |  |
0:29 | |||||
| 2 | WS2 |
|
– |
|
5-11 9-11 6-11 | 0-1 | |
0:28 | |||||
| 3 | WS3 |
|
– |
|
11-4 11-5 11-2 | 0-0 | |
0:23 |
First up Madeline vs. Laura Massaro. Good Luck IRELAND!!
2-0 to Massaro, first point to Madeline 1-4 down, 2-4, 4-4, great nick by Madeline 5 all, 5-6, 5-7 down, 6-8, unlucky tin 6-9, lost 11-7. 2nd set – 1-0 to Madeline, great rally 2-0, stroke to England 2-1, 2 all, 2-4 down, 2-5, slipping 2-6, lovely short shot 3-6, 4-6. Lovely cross court drive by Massaro 4-7. Great drive by Madeline 5-8, 5-10, shot into tin 5-11.
3rd set 2-0 down, 4-0 tough game, 5-0 Madeline playing well but Massaro makes no mistakes. lovely nick by Madeline 2-6, 2-9. Set to Massaro 11-2 somewhat flat but nothing Madeline could do, 3-0. Massaro is the world number 2 and looks every bit of it!!
Another tough match for Ireland Aisling plays world number 4 Alison Waters but we know Aisling will give it all!!
1st point to Waters Aisling nicks 1 all, tin by Waters 2-2, 4-4, nick by Aisling 5-4 up, no let more effort required 6-4 to Aisling. 8-5 up, 10-5 game ball, first set to Ireland 1-0. 2nd set – no let 1-0 to Aisling, great get by Aisling 2-1 up, 3-1, unlucky 3-2 up, 5-4 up. Aisling unlucky, stroke to Waters 5 all, Aisling back in 6-5, great stuff!. 7-6 up after superb nick by Waters, 8-6 up. Great rally at front of court 9-7 up, 10-7 game ball, 10-9, great drop 11-0, 2-0 up in sets!! Aisling is playing superbly.
3rd Set – 1 all, 2-1 up, 3-1, 3-2, Aisling in control on the tee 4-2, 5-2, 6-2, great drop, stroke to Ireland 7-3, what a rally, Aisling is pulling Waters all over the court and getting to everything 9-3, 9-4, 9-6, 10-6, match to Ireland after superb serve and backhand drop into the nick. Well done Aisling!!
From one Connacht woman to another – all down to Laura Mylotte from Galway who did it yesterday. Tough ask for Laura vs. the no. 8 ranked Duncalf but with what she showed last evening never say never!!
1st set – mistake by Laura 0-1, down, 0-2 down, 1-3 down, 2-4, tin by Duncalf 3-5, unlucky 3-6, 3-7, another tin 4-7, 4-9, 4-10, game to Duncalf. Second set – first pt to Laura 1-0, couple of mistakes 1-3 down, slipping 1-6, 3-7, 4-8, 5-8, game ball to England 5-10. Tough for Laura 2-0 to Duncalf. Third set – 0-3 down, Duncalf in full control 0-4, 1-7. Nothing Laura could do 11-2 in the third. So win for England 2-1. However magnificent tournament by Ireland again to get another silver medal in Europe!!
